Employees Matter! Take Care of Them In More Than Just a Professional Capacity

Employees that are treated as more than just a social security number put forth more effort than their ignored counterparts.

Employees that are treated as more than just a social security number put forth more effort than there ignored counterparts.

Taking care of your employees is important and it shouldn’t end with just a paycheck.

Treating employees well leads to better employee retention and loyalty if offered a job elsewhere.

The morale of the office of companies that put their employees first can be quite shocking to those who have never worked in a place that does that.

Below we will jump into just a few areas that you can help your employees out to help their lives in general.

Help Educate Them on Finance

There will be offices where a majority of the people make enough money to live comfortably. People who have never had excess income might spend it frivolously on things that they do not need.

Young and old are both guilty of this and part of the blame can be put on a lack of financial education. An employee will be grateful for this information and it can help them get rid of some of the stress in their lives. An employee that isn’t worrying about their finances constantly will be able to concentrate on their job at hand.

How to educate your employees:

• Bring in a financial advisor to answer any questions that they might have about their financial future.
• The person who is invited in will be able to discuss the different types of investment opportunities. They will also be able to decipher the differences between short term and long term opportunities as well as high yielding vs. low yielding investments.
• Stress saving to staff and offer some kind of matching 401(k) program. Allow the percentage of matching to go up the longer an employee has been with the staff. Nothing forces somebody to learn more than telling them they can retire earlier if they start now!
• Offer a day where you have a financial advisor meet individually with the staff. They can let them know what they are spending too much on and how much they should save a month from each paycheck.

Help First Time Homebuyers and Sellers

While you shouldn’t help your staff financially you can help them in a variety of other ways. The home is the largest investment that many single people and couples make during their lifetime.

How to help your employees:

• Send them articles pertaining to closing as sometimes a real estate agent won’t explain everything. Things like knowing what closing costs a seller pays can have a huge impact on the seller’s cash flow. For buyers, you should send them tips about how to boost their credit to get a more favorable mortgage rate.
• For those moving or selling a home, you should give them a few days off. Most of the time your staff will account for days moving in their PTO but moving is a nightmare and not what most people want to spend their vacation time doing. Limit this few days to every five to seven years as those who move yearly might continue to do so.
• Throwing some kind of party congratulating the employee for buying their first home will mean a lot. If the staff brings in gifts this can be a great way to get a new homeowner set up in their new house. A sense of community is what you want to stress by helping your staff out outside of the office.

Childcare Assistance

There might come a time when you are about to lose a star employee because they simply cannot afford daycare. Taking care of employees that perform at a high level can help ensure they will be staying at the company for the long term.

Family and work life balance is quite important to people so the office helping out with childcare can mean a lot to your staff. The tax breaks associated with this are solid

How to provide this assistance:  

• If possible allow the employee to work from home a few days a week. Make the expectations very clear before doing so and stress KPIs that need to be hit on a daily or weekly basis. This extra freedom allows the employee to be a parent while not sacrificing on their quality of work.

• Offer a monthly stipend to assist with childcare as it sometimes will pay for itself. Many times parents scramble to find a babysitter if daycare is closed. A focused employee is much more productive than an employee who is stressed out.

• If the budget allows it, having a daycare set up in the office is quite a huge perk for many people. This can save them thousands of dollars a year while being able to visit their children during breaks.

• If you are eligible you can deduct the amount paid for childcare on your employees W2 from their taxable wages. This also allows the company to save money on providing care.

 
 






SOURCE: www.business.com